Multipath conveyor installation

ABSTRACT

The conveyor installation makes it possible to control the speed of items of the bottle ( 1 ) type dispatched in several trains distributed across various paths in the form of single-file lanes ( 11 ). The lanes are delimited by a pair of walls ( 16, 17 ) which are arranged in an omega shape over a base plate made up of several juxtaposed conveyors ( 13, 14, 15 ). Each lane ( 11 ) may comprise a fixed wall ( 16 ) acting as a reference, and a moving wall ( 17 ) that can be adjusted according to the dimensions of the items that are to be conveyed.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a National Stage of International Application No.PCT/FR2009/051097 filed Jun. 11, 2009, which claims priority from FrenchPatent Application No. 0803276 filed Jun. 13, 2008, the contents of allof which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The present invention relates to an installation for conveying items ofthe bottle or vial kind or the like, and in particular to a conveyorinstallation which forms the connection between the machines that havedifferent operating cycles.

It relates, for example, to a conveyor installation positioned between alabeling machine in which the items, chiefly bottles, exit at a highrate in single file, and a pallet wrapping machine in which the speed atwhich said products enter is divided by the number of products that makeup the front that enters said pallet wrapping machine.

It relates in particular, within this conveyor installation, to theconveyor system which controls the speed of travel of the productsbetween the machines and, in particular, the way in which this speed oftravel varies.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In general, these conveyor systems are made up of several conveyorsarranged in series, forming an omega shape for example, and driven withrespect to one another at different speeds in order gradually, and instages, to reduce the speed of travel of the stream of bottles.

The width of the active surface of each conveyor generally correspondsat least to the width of the front of bottles arriving at the palletwrapping machine.

The bottles may either be channeled into a single lane or dispatchedinto several adjacent lanes.

These lanes are positioned above the surface, or baseplate, of theconveyor and are delimited by guide walls which are carried byrelatively rigid appropriate structures.

In order to transfer the stream of products from one conveyor to theother, the walls of the lane or lanes act as deflectors; they areinclined with respect to the direction of travel of the bottles.

This inclination may, depending on how inclined it is and depending onthe speed at which the products are moving, impose significantaccelerations on the bottles and cause incidents.

Leaving aside any falling-over and/or jamming, the bottles are alsosubjected the phenomena of intense friction against the deflectingwalls.

In the case of a multiple-lane conveyor system where there are wallsthat are common to two adjacent lanes, the conveying of the bottles mayalso be disturbed by problems of interference between said adjacentlanes. The pressure that the bottles can apply to the wall common to twoadjacent lanes may cause deformation of this wall and this deformationmay cause bottles to jam in the lane the width of which has beenaffected.

In addition, these multipath conveyors are not suited to acceptingbottles of different formats. Specifically, a change in format meansmodifying the position of practically all of the walls, with, inaddition discrepancies which all add up.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention proposes a conveyor system which is able to solvethese various problems. It can very easily be installed and incorporatedin chains that process items of the bottle kind and is also able toaccept items of widely differing formats.

This conveyor system makes it possible, according to the needs, toestablish a gradual variation in the speed of the items from their entryto their exit from said system and in the remainder of the text will betermed a vario-conveyor.

This vario-conveyor according to the invention provides a reliable andeffective solution to guiding the bottles, even at high speed. It alsooffers the possibility of improving the compactness of this kind ofinstallation that incorporates the vario-conveyor.

Its novel design makes for a pared-down construction and simplerrealization. It does away with the constraints which entail goodrigidity and high precision at the walls of the various lanes in orderto overcome the problems of deformation and interference between thelanes.

The vario-conveyor according to the invention is of the multipath type,for controlling the speeds of items of the bottle kind, or othercontainers between two workstations, said bottles having been dispatchedin several strings distributed across the various paths in the form ofsingle-file lanes in the shape of an omega, which lanes each consist oftheir own conveyor baseplate and of a pair of distinct walls, arrangedabove each baseplate, to guide each string of bottles separately.

This arrangement makes it possible to do away with the risks ofinterference between two adjacent lanes and, in particular, the risksassociated with deformations of the dividing walls.

Still according to the invention, each baseplate consists of asuccession of conveyor chains the speeds of which vary from one to theother, which chains are arranged in an omega shape, that is to say thatthe downstream end of one borders on the upstream end of the next toallow the items to pass from one chain to the other, guided by the wallsof the corresponding lane.

According to another arrangement of the invention, the ends of adjacentchains of one and the same baseplate border one another over anappropriate length which is notably dependent on the speed or rate andstability of the items conveyed.

Still according to the invention, the conveyor structure comprises, foreach lane, a guide wall that acts as a right edge and a wall that actsas a left edge, the opposing walls of two adjacent lanes being separatedby a space the magnitude of which corresponds at least to the differencein dimensions of the items which are likely to travel along said lanes.

According to another arrangement of the invention, the vario-conveyorcomprises, for each lane, a fixed wall acting as a reference, secured tothe chassis of said vario-conveyor, and a moving wall, each moving wallbeing carried by a structure which is guided transversely on saidchassis and the position of which can be adjusted through appropriateactuating means.

Still according to the invention, the vario-conveyor comprises a fixedstructure which supports the fixed walls of the lanes, which fixedstructure acts as a support and as a guide to the structure whichcarries the moving walls via appropriate means of the slide type.

According to another arrangement of the invention, the structures whichcarry the fixed walls and the moving walls of the lanes are installedunder the item conveying surface.

According to one alternative form of embodiment of the invention, thestructures which carry the fixed walls and the moving walls of the lanesare positioned above the item conveying surface.

Still according to the invention, the means of actuating the movingstructures consist of screw-nut systems, which systems are operatedusing appropriate maneuvering means.

The invention may also have the following features, consideredseparately or in combination:

-   -   the nut may be a floating nut;    -   the appropriate maneuvering means consist of a crank which is        which is secured to the screw;    -   the appropriate maneuvering means comprise an angle transmission        comprising a gearwheel which rotates as one with the screw and a        threaded flexible shaft which runs laterally along the length of        the chassis, controlled by electric motor means.

The invention also relates to a line for controlling the speed of astream of items of the bottle or vial type or other products, between amachine of the labeling machine type and a machine of the palletwrapping type, and in particular to a line which comprises a conveyorstructure in the form of a vario-conveyor as detailed hereinabove.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be further detailed using the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, given by way of indication, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows the various constituent parts of an installation forconveying items of the bottle kind between, for example, a labelingmachine and a pallet wrapping machine, which conveyor installationcomprises the vario-conveyor according to the invention;

FIG. 2 schematically depicts the traditional conveyor system as used ininstallations of the kind depicted in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 depicts the vario-conveyor according to the invention, ascompared with the conveyor of the prior art detailed in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the upstream part of the vario-conveyordepicted in FIG. 3, with lanes for guiding strings of bottles;

FIG. 5 shows part sections on AA and BB of FIG. 4 for lanes ofadjustable width;

FIGS. 6 and 7 depict an alternative form of embodiment of the means foradjusting the width of the lanes respectively showing extreme positionsfor the walls of the lanes, adapted to suit the dimensions of thebottles;

FIG. 8 is an enlargement of part of the installation showing means foradjusting the width of the lanes; and

FIG. 9 shows the installation illustrated in FIG. 5, comprising anotherembodiment of the means for adjusting the width of the lanes.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 schematically depicts a line for the preparation of packs ofitems of the bottle 1 kind. This line comprises, at the entrance, alabeling machine E and, at the end, a pallet wrapping machine F, with aconveyor installation between the two.

This conveyor installation is made up of several specialist conveyorsystems which are able to control the variation in speed that needs tobe applied to the bottles 1 in order to change their speed from thespeed Ve at the exit from the labeling machine E to a speed Vf at theentrance to the pallet wrapping machine F.

The conveyor installation comprises:

-   -   a first conveyor system C1 which, starting out from a single        path, dispatches the bottles 1 in the form of strings into        several single-file lines,    -   a second multipath conveyor system C2, corresponding to the        vario-conveyor of the invention, where the change in speed of        the bottles 1 occurs, and    -   a third conveyor system C3 where the bottles 1 are accumulated        and batches of these bottles 1 are prepared before they enter        the pallet wrapping machine F. On leaving the pallet wrapping        machine, the bottles 1 are grouped together in the form of a        pack 2.

The conveyor system C2 is depicted in FIG. 2 in the traditionalconfiguration which corresponds to the prior art. It is made up ofseveral juxtaposed conveyors 3, 4 and 5 the overall width of which canvary between the entry and the exit; in general, this width is uniformand corresponds to the width of the batch of bottles 1 arriving at thepallet wrapping machine F.

This conveyor system depicted in FIG. 2 comprises several lanes 6 intowhich strings of bottles 1 have been dispatched.

These conveyors 3, 4 and 5 consist, for example, of several chains 7which form the surface of the baseplate on which the bottles 1 rest andslide. This baseplate may have a width which corresponds at least to thesum of the widths of the lanes 6, that is to say to the width of thebatch of bottles 1 which arrives at the entry to the pallet wrappingmachine F, as mentioned earlier.

It will also be noticed, in FIG. 2, that the number of chains 7 may begreater than the number of lanes 6.

This conveyor system C2, which corresponds to the prior art, has a totalwidth L which is of the order of twice the sum of the widths of thelanes 6.

These lanes 6 are delimited by walls 8 the number of which correspondsto the number of lanes 6, plus one. These walls 8 serve as guides and,at the same time, as deflectors to cause the products 1 to move from theconveyor 3 to the conveyor 4 and from the latter to the conveyor 5, eachtime with a variation in the speed of the various strings of bottles.

In the deflection zone, the walls 8 are inclined with respect to thedirection of travel of the conveyors 3 to 5; this inclination makes anangle d which is established on the basis of various parametersassociated notably with the rate, with the stability of the bottles andalso with the space available between the labeling machine and thepallet wrapping machine in which to house the entire conveyorinstallation.

FIG. 3 depicts the conveyor system C2 according to the invention, termeda vario-conveyor.

This vario-conveyor C2 consists, as before, of several lanes 11, forexample four lanes, and each lane is attached to a series of three,distinct, single-file, conveyors 13, 14 and 15.

These three conveyors 13 to 15 are arranged in an omega shape, like theconveyors 3 to 5 in FIG. 2.

Each lane 11 consists of a series of conveyors 13 to 15 each of whichcomprises a single chain 7 and each lane is delimited by two side walls16, 17 which are specific to it. The number of walls 16 and 17 isexactly twice the number of lanes 11 and each string of bottles 1 istherefore guided by its own walls 16 and 17; there are no walls incommon as there were in the traditional conveying system depicted inFIG. 2.

All the walls 16 are fixed to the installation, while all the walls 17are mounted so that they can move and, for this purpose, are connectedtogether and connected to means that allow the width of the lanes 11 tobe adjusted according to the diameter of the bottles to be conveyed.Such adjusting means will be described further later.

It will be noted that the total width L of the vario-conveyor accordingto the invention corresponds to the width of a pair of chains 7multiplied by the number of lanes 11.

By comparison with the width of the conveyors 13 to 15 depicted in FIG.2, the width of the vario-conveyor C2 according to the invention, anddepicted in FIG. 3, is one third smaller.

It will also be noted that, for the same flanking length D, the angle dthrough which the bottles 1 are deflected is particularly small in thecase of the vario-conveyor according to the invention, FIG. 3, ascompared with that of the prior art depicted in FIG. 2.

The flanking D, that is to say the length over which the ends of twochains of one and the same baseplate border one another, is dependent onthe speed, or rate, of the items and especially on their stability.

FIG. 4 shows, on a larger scale, the upstream part of the vario-conveyorC2 according to the invention which is depicted in FIG. 3, at the placewhere the bottles 1 are deflected.

These bottles 1 arrive in the form of strings in the various lanes 11;they are driven along by the chain of the conveyor 13 at a speed Ve andthen, guided by the walls 16 and 17, move on to the second conveyor 14the speed of which is lower than that of the previous conveyor 13.

It will be noted that the ends of the conveyor 13 are positioned on acommon shaft 23 and that the ends of the conveyors 14 are likewisepositioned on a common shaft 24. The ends of the conveyors 15 are, onceagain, positioned on a common shaft 25.

The bottles 1 travel from one conveyor 13 to the other 14 at arelatively small angle d of deflection, which angle is dependent on thewidth of said conveyors and on their flanking distance D.

The width of each lane 11 is smaller than the width of a pair of chains7 of the conveyor 13, 14.

Because the lanes 11 are independent, each may have means for adjustingits width in order to adapt it to suit the items that are to be guided.

It is also possible, as detailed in the next FIGS. 5 to 9, to produce anadjusting system which comprises a fixed wall 16 and a moving wall 17.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show an arrangement of this type with walls 16 which arefixed and walls 17 which can be moved transversely in order to alter thewidth of the lanes 11 to suit the type of bottles 1 to be controlled.

FIG. 5 shows in greater detail an arrangement of the walls that form thelanes, which arrangement has the special feature of leaving the top ofthe conveyor installation free and therefore of offering an entirelyclear view of the bottles 1.

FIG. 5 shows the vario-conveyor in the form of an elevation with twopart sections: one of them, a section on AA in the region of theconveyors 14, showing how small-sized bottles 1 are guided and the otherof them a section on BB in the region of the conveyors 13, showing howlarge-sized bottles 1 are guided.

This vario-conveyor comprises an overall chassis 26 on which the chains7 of the various conveyors are guided.

The walls 16 of the various conveyors 11 are fixed, carried by astructure which corresponds to the chassis 26, whereas the walls 17 areable to move transversely, carried by an appropriate structure detailedhereinafter.

These walls 17 are mounted on a structure 27 which is guidedtransversely by means of a system of slides 28 formed on said chassis26. For preference, this structure 27 is guided on the chassis 26 whichcarries the fixed walls 16.

In particular, as FIG. 8 shows, the moving walls 17 are fixed to atleast one slide 28 by means of fixing brackets 18.

The fixed wall 16 are fixed to the chassis 26 by fixing brackets 19.

The slide 28 is U-shaped. It leans against the chassis 26 and is guidedby a system involving a roller 20, the pivot pin of which is fixed tosaid chassis 26, which slide is mounted so that it is free to move overthe pivot pin of the roller 20 by means of a linear opening 21 made inthe bottom 22 of the U of said slide 28.

The structure 27 is able to move under the effect of an appropriatemaneuvering mechanism of the screw 29 and nut 30 type.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 5 to 8, the nut 30 is of thefloating nut type, to reduce friction between the latter and the screwand make it easier for the screw to move in said nut.

This type of structure 27 and of maneuvering mechanism is repeated atregular intervals along the length of the vario-conveyor to give thevarious walls 17 that make up one of the sides of the lanes 11 a certainrigidity.

The various maneuvering mechanisms are operated in a coordinated fashionby being manipulated together by means of a system 43 provided with anangle transmission and with a common shaft 44 running laterally alongthe length of the vario-conveyor chassis.

More specifically, the system 43 provided with an angle transmissioncomprises a gearwheel 45 (FIG. 8) which moves as one with the screw 29.

The teeth of the gearwheel 45 engage with a screw thread of the shaft 44so that when the shaft 44 is turned, it causes the wheel 45 to turn.

In the context of this exemplary embodiment, the shaft 24 is flexible.

Such a flexible shaft is easier to install and can easily adopt a curvedshape, so that it can match the shape of the installation, from onemaneuvering system 23 to an adjacent maneuvering system 23.

In the context of this exemplary embodiment, the thread is surrounded insuch a way that the shaft/gearwheel pair has a ratio of 1 to 40. Inother words, when the shaft 44 is turned, it has to be turned through 40turns for the wheel to effect one turn.

It should be understood that such a cable could be produced differentlywithout departing from the context of the invention.

The angle transmission system 43 is fixed to a side wall of theinstallation which is readily accessible should maintenance be required.

For preference, the angle transmission system 43 is fixed to the outerwall of the installation, when the installation has curves.

To avoid any soiling of the gearwheel 45, or more broadly speaking ofthe angle transmission system 43, the gearwheel 45 is enclosed in a box35 which is closed, and which has means for opening it easily (in orderto carry out maintenance), such as through-holes 36 made in a firstshell of the box collaborating with threaded blind holes produced in asecond shell of the box and able to accept a screw (not depicted).

The shaft 44 may be housed in a fixed sheath 46 which extends betweenthe angle transmission systems 43.

The arrangement depicted in FIG. 5 is found also in FIGS. 6 and 7; thestructure 27 which supports the moving walls 17 is housed and guided bymeans of a system of slides on a gantry-shaped crosspiece 31 which issecured to the chassis 26 of the vario-conveyor, and which is situatedabove the surface on which the bottles 1 are conveyed.

It should be understood that the invention is not restricted to thepresence of such a maneuvering system 43 and that it could compriseother equivalent means.

In particular, without departing from the scope of the invention, themaneuvering system could be produced in the form of a crank 37, as shownin FIG. 9.

The web 38 of the crank 37 could then be connected directly to a screw29′ collaborating with a nut 30′.

It will be noted that the nut 30′ may not be a floating nut, as shown byFIG. 9.

It will be appreciated from the foregoing description how theinstallation according to the invention can be adapted to suit all sizesof bottle, and how it allows the speed of the bottles to be varied fromone workstation to another.

However, it must be understood that the invention is not restricted tothe embodiments specifically described and depicted in the figures andthat it extends to cover any equivalent means.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A multipath conveyor installationconfigured to control speeds of items being conveyed between twoworkstations, said items having been dispatched in several stringsdistributed across a plurality of paths formed as single-file lanes in ashape of an omega, comprising: a conveyor baseplate provided for each ofthe single-file lanes, respectively, and a pair of distinct wallsprovided for each of the single-file lanes, respectively, arranged abovesaid baseplate, to guide each string of items separately along thesingle-file lanes, each pair of the distinct walls comprises a fixedguide wall and a movable guide wall, the fixed guide wall and themovable guide wall defining a space therebetween having a widthconfigured to allow the items to pass therebetween, adjacent ones of thesingle-file lanes having no walls in common, a chassis configured tosecure and support each of the fixed guide walls of each of thesingle-file lanes, a U-shape slide configured to movably support each ofthe movable guide walls of the single-file lanes, movable with respectto the chassis, so as to adjust the space defined between the movableguide wall and the fixed guide wall.
 2. The multipath conveyorinstallation according to claim 1, wherein each baseplate consists of asuccession of chains the speeds of which vary from one to the other, andwherein the chains are arranged in an omega shape, that is to say thatthe downstream end of one borders on the upstream end of the next toallow the bottles to pass from one chain to the other, guided by thewalls of the corresponding lane.
 3. The conveyor installation as claimedin claim 2, wherein the ends of adjacent chains of one and the samebaseplate border one another over an appropriate length which isdependent on the rate and stability of the bottles.
 4. The conveyorinstallation as claimed in claim 3, further comprising a plurality ofmaneuvering systems disposed at regular intervals along the length ofthe conveyor configured to move the U-shaped slide, comprising anelongated screw having a longitudinal axis parallel to a bottom portionof the U-shaped slide and connected to opposing side walls of theU-shaped slide, one end of the screw connected to a gearwheel, so thatrotation of the gearwheel causes the screw to rotate thereby causing theU- shaped slide to move.
 5. The conveyor installation as claimed inclaim 4, further comprising a nut attached to the opposing side walls ofthe U-shaped slide, and through which the screw is received therebytransferring a rotational movement of the screw to a translationalmovement of the U-shaped slide to cause the movable guide walls to move.6. The conveyor installation as claimed in claim 4, further comprising acrank secured to the screw to rotate the screw.
 7. The conveyorinstallation as claimed in claim 4, further comprising an electric motorconfigured to rotate the screw.
 8. The conveyor installation as claimedin claim 1, comprising supporting structures for the walls of the lanes,which structures are installed under an item conveying surface.
 9. Theconveyor installation as claimed in claim 1, comprising supportingstructures for the walls of the single-file lanes, installed above anitem conveying surface.
 10. A line for controlling the speed of a streamof products between a machine of the labeling machine kind and a machineof the pallet wrapping machine kind, comprising a multipath conveyorinstallation according to claim 1.